Supreme Court strikes down conversion therapy ban

The Supreme Court has ruled that states cannot ban conversion therapy on minors by restricting the topics that therapists and professionals can discuss with clients, in an 8-1 decision today (March 31) that reshapes the way such laws are enforced across the United States.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, said, “The First Amendment provides a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country,” finding that states cannot use licensing rules to limit what therapists say to their clients.

The lawsuit, Chiles v. Salazar, was filed by Colorado-based therapist Kaylee Childs, who argued that she should be allowed to provide faith-based counseling to minors who want to reduce their same-sex attractions or feel more comfortable in their own bodies.

Read more: ‘Conversion therapy had no effect on removing my transgender-ness,’ says survivor

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only dissenting opinion. The ruling is seen as a major victory for the Trump administration, which supported the challenge.

The decision applies specifically to talk therapy, meaning states still have the power to regulate medical interventions such as hormones and surgery.

This follows a 2025 ruling in which the court upheld a state ban on certain gender-affirming treatments for minors.

According to washington postMs Chiles claimed she did not want to convert LGBTQ+ youth, but wanted to help reduce their obviously undesirable attractions.

She wrote in her filing that her clients “believe that their faith and relationship with God supersedes any romantic attraction, and that God determines their identity according to what He has revealed in the Bible, rather than letting their attractions or perceptions determine their identity.”

Conversion therapy in the United States

It is estimated that Williams InstituteAccording to the United States, 698,000 LGBT adults have undergone conversion therapy, including 350,000 as adolescents.

This is despite the year 2019. stonewall anniversary vote It found that 56 percent of Americans say conversion therapy for LGBTQ children should be illegal.

The same poll found that 64% of people disagree that medical professionals should be allowed to withhold elective treatment from LGBTQ+ patients if religious objections warrant it.

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